Metaverse, artificial intelligence, influencers, digital transformation, automation and augmented reality. These are just some of the new words we are using more and more honestly and more and more self-consciously when it comes to marketing and business.
And while the digital marketing sphere has always been one of the fastest changing and most dynamic, in the last few years – after COVID-19, we’ve been dizzy with the pace at which everything is changing.
First it was social networks and their algorithms, then suddenly virtual reality and the meta universe became the center of every discussion, and just a few months after it entered the mainstream, Chat GPT became the biggest threat to hundreds of professions and changed our perceptions of speed and operability. What’s next?
Personal touch and personalization
In marketing, personalisation has always been important, but when artificial intelligence steps in, it goes to a whole different level. With the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI), companies will be able to do much more in-depth and accurate analyses of consumer profiles and behaviours and create unique package offers and deals.
I’ve already raved about a few “fashion stylists” for online fashion stores who, instead of “complementary” or “similar products”, create a complete styling to increase the volume of the consumer basket. For example, you go in to buy a dress, complete the purchase with matching shoes, bag and jewelry. Cool, huh? Sadly, with such offerings, the profession of “fashion stylist” is among the endangered.
ChatGPT and AI are completely changing the rules in the copywriting industry
Software with integrated artificial intelligence is faster, smarter, more creative and decidedly more responsive when it comes to writing new text and page volumes.
They work with keywords. Able to generate content by photo and by video. They take all comments and remarks into account and reflect them literally in seconds. And I firmly believe that when content affects social media posts or blog maintenance, even book writing, artificial intelligence, ChatGPT and its derivatives, will definitely find more and more place.
If they are now able to come up with text for the marketing campaigns, how long will it take them to independently create the marketing campaigns themselves?
AI is also changing online events – trainings, meetings, workshops
In the last few days I have been experimenting with different software that attend online meetings for me or pull my overview and notes from the trainings and I have to admit – I am impressed. If you haven’t used Ottor.ai – I recommend it. My other favorite is Fireflies.ai.
Marketing automation
Inevitably, one of the biggest advantages of AI is the ability to automate certain processes, not just our participation in online meetings and training and copywriting. However, by the same token, AI software solutions can help us automate our online correspondence and email handling, create and manage advertising campaigns, manage social media accounts, and even take over a large percentage of phone sales and online support.
Yes, this is certainly a threat to many professions, especially the low-skilled, but on the other hand, this type of automation will open up much more time for more productive and strategic tasks.
I believe that after the effective penetration of artificial intelligence, the 4-day workweek will no longer be exotic , but human labor will have a much greater added and financially measurable value.
Voice search
When Google launched Google Images and the ability to search by photo years ago, I was in seventh heaven. It was time for search engines to go to a whole new level and with the rise of smart devices, “voice search” was the next “sexy” in the industry.
In the years to come, the integration of audio and voice search will play an increasing role in content marketing. If you’re ready to get started today, you can try Flicki.ai. The app supports 75 languages and over 900 “human-sounding” voices, and promises to turn any text into audio content in under 2 minutes.
Video Marketing and Reels
Short videos and video marketing are nothing new to the industry and not something that should surprise us, because in recent years both search engine and social media algorithms have started to give more weight and priority to video content. What’s new and noteworthy is the duration of videos – it turns out users’ attention spans are getting harder and harder to hold for short periods of time.
If up to a year or two ago the average length, and recommendation for video content, was 30-60 seconds, the trend today is for videos to become shorter and shorter and to prefer Reels to 10-15 seconds .
Thanks to AI, companies will have the ability to explore their users’ interaction with the video content they create and optimize it. Again, nothing new, but … this brings us to the next trend.
Data and micro data
Data is key to any marketing campaign, but in the age of widgets and artificial intelligence, we’re now able to go really deep and analyze not just in real time and infer predictive behavioral patterns, but analyze and track nuances in consumer behavior.
In 2017, Martin Lindstrom published one of my favorite books on data, Small Data, which tells the story of how he patiently and methodically noted all sorts of details, nuances, and features of behavior and lifestyles in order to derive patterns and commonalities about society and its social groups.
In the book, you’ll learn how a pair of worn-out sneakers owned by an 11-year-old boy in Germany pulled LEGO out of a financial crisis, how a teddy bear in a teenage girl’s bedroom helped revolutionize sales for a global fashion brand with 1,000 stores in 20 countries, and many more true stories from Lindström ‘s practice .
It’s a super interesting and engaging book, Linström style, and through the lens of current trends I really recommend you give it a look. “Small Data is published in Bulgarian by ed. You can buy it here if you choose.
Influencers are here to stay
The truth is that when it came to the Influencer profession I was very skeptical. Used to seeing beautiful women taking nude pictures on the beach all day long and talking about their latest expensive purchases, I thought this influencer thing was some kind of fashion that would soon pass.
The truth is that the more technological and technologically dependent we become, the more we will crave human contact and human role models.
Today, I believe influencers are here to stay. No they, like everything else will have to start adding value to the content they create.
A value that goes beyond new silicone and beautiful looks.
Value that binds emotionally and engages consumers. Thanks to AI, brands will now be able to analyze the business effectiveness of their partnerships with various influencers, and as long as it’s not tied to sales, I don’t see how influencer marketing can compete with TV advertising, for example, which can also be very beautiful and very expensive.
It’s no coincidence that digital channels so quickly and decisively displaced traditional ones 20 years ago.
Social awareness and sustainability
Environmental issues and sustainability may have seemed like a fad 20 years ago, but the consequences of our reckless behaviour are knocking more insistently at the door and reminding us of ourselves.
“Motivated” by global environmental movements, European norms or “green preferences” in Generation Y’s consumer behaviour, businesses and corporations are increasingly talking about “green standards”, boasting BREEAM awards for green building and maintaining a clean environment, and measuring their environmental and social rating against the ESG standard.
The European Union needs clear policy targets to achieve a carbon-neutral, environmentally sustainable, toxics-free and fully circular economy by 2050 at the latest, MEPs say.
At the same time, international standards are being prepared for ESG ratings, which have become a marketing tool rather than a real measure of environmental and social impact, in complete contradiction to their design.
In the coming years, the goal will be to place increasing importance on the social added value that companies have for the well-being of society and nature. And with the help of artificial intelligence tools, this will be easily visible and measurable.
Every time I write predictions, I share that interesting and exciting times are ahead. The truth is, thanks to artificial intelligence, this time I really have no idea what is in store for us.
One thing is for sure, the world is not the same anymore and it will take twice as much effort and will to keep the human in us and celebrate ourselves.
